Speaker of the House John Boehner tells the press he is open to a compromise in order to pass the unemployment benefits extension bill at the House GOP leadership press conference, Thursday, April 10, 2014

Boehner speaking to the press on Thursday morning, April 10 reiterated his position on job-creation measures being a part of any unemployment benefits extension bill he would bring to a House vote. Boehner stated; "Listen, I made clear to the president last December that if he wanted us to consider an extension of emergency unemployment benefits, it would have to be paid for and it would have to include things that would help get our economy going. They have not put forward anything with regard to how we would create more jobs. And so the ball's still in their court."

Boehner still believes that the Senate needs to move on serious job creation bills to solve the economic problems the Americans are still facing. The speaker explained; "Meanwhile, Democrats here in Washington continue to play their usual politics, using their old playbook of pitting one group of Americans against another. And frankly, it's pretty obvious that their efforts have failed. They’ve fallen flat because the American people are still asking the question, 'Where are the jobs?,' and these political votes provide no answers."

Job creation and training legislation is a priority for Boehner and the Republican House. The speaker explained the types of bills the House are making a priority. Boehner indicated; "So the House is going to continue to focus on the American people’s priorities: creating good paying jobs, increasing wages, and expanding opportunity for all Americans. This means reforming our job training and skills programs, advancing bipartisan charter school legislation, critical water and highway infrastructure bills, expanding exports to our allies, and repealing and replacing ObamaCare – just to name a few."

Speaker Boehner does not intend to put the Senate bill as it is to a vote at all, despite wide public support for the bill, and states with Republican representatives including Boehner's own that are still facing high unemployment rates. Some moderate Republicans want to vote on the bill, others see it as an opportunity to advance their own special interests.

Michael Steele Boehner's spokesman commented on the Republican considering provisions to add to the bill. Steele stated; "A lot of members have proposals on economic growth and jobs provisions. No decisions have been made at this point on how we’ll proceed." So far no consensus has been reach among the GOP about which particular provisions they will consider.

Just prior to the recess this past week the Republicans informally discussed among themselves and with the Senate about what can be added to the bill that will allow it to be voted on in the House and would still pass in the Senate. Sessions told the press that "I'm engaged in conversation with others about putting accelerated depreciation on… It will depend how reasonable both sides are. We see what their offer is. I think that we could offer back an equally reasonable circumstance."

Although originally Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV and Democrats originally stated he wanted to the Senate bill voted on as it was passed and before the recess. Reid stated late week; "I want them to pass this. They can do whatever they want. ... Find out what they do, then I'll react to it." Reid now seems more open to the Republicans interest in adding provisions. Reid commented that "So, I'm sure we've made some progress."

Boehner statement on the bill's passage in the Senate was delivered by his spokesman Michael Steel, and was carefully worded to leave the door open to the bill and imply that the Speaker might be willing to put the bill to a vote if it in fact included the job creation measures he has been asking for since the bill expired. The statement read; "As the Speaker said months ago, we are willing to look at extending emergency unemployment insurance as long as it includes provisions to help create more private-sector jobs - but, last week, Senate Democratic Leaders ruled out adding any jobs measures at all. The American people are still asking, 'where are the jobs?' and House Republicans are focused on our jobs agenda for families and small businesses."

The pressure is on from on Speaker Boehner from fellow Republicans, Democrats, the Senate and the White House to pass the unemployment benefits extension. Supporters are arguing back that not extending the benefits would hurt the economy. Supporters cite a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study that found a full year extension would provide 0.2 growth to the economy, and even the five-month Senate extension would serve beneficial to the economy. If extended for a full year the CBO study concludes extending benefits would add 200,000 jobs and the program would cost $26 billion.

Speaker of the House Boehner opposes the Senate bipartisan bill to extend unemployment for the long term jobless. Boehner thinks creating jobs is more important than extending benefits. Boehner expressed at his Wednesday March 26 press conference; "I made clear that if we're going to consider dealing with emergency unemployment, we've got to do something about creating better jobs in America, higher wages in America. The Senate is sitting on dozens of bills that we sent over there. I think it's time for the Senate to work with the House to help get the economy moving again. That's the real issue."

Generally Republicans have opposed the extension because they believe it does not motivate the unemployed to find a job as long as they have access to benefits. All throughout the financial crisis and recession Republicans voted with Democrats to extend the benefits, but now with the worst of the crisis over Republicans think the long-term jobless need to find jobs rather than receive benefits.

Now that Congress is on a two-week Easter recess having left on Thursday April 10 and returning on April 28, any discussions surrounding the bill will have to wait until Congress returns. By the time they return it will be four full months that America’s long-term jobless would have been left without benefits since they expired on Dec. 28, 2013.

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Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS is a journalist, librarian, editor & historian. She is the editor of the Academic Buzz Network http://academicbuzznetwork.wordpress.com/, a series of political, academic & education blogs. She has previously covered the 2004, 2008 & 2012 U.S. Presidential campaigns, and 2010 midterm elections. Ms. Goodman has a BA in History & Art History, and a Masters in Library and Information Studies both from McGill University, and has done graduate work at Concordia University as part of the MA in Judaic Studies degree program. Ms. Goodman has also contributed to a number of reference publications; including "The History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2008," "The Encyclopedia of the Cold War" and "The Home Front Encyclopedia." Her specializations are American, Canadian & Israeli politics.